Mutua now woos striking doctors, nurses with perks
Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua has said health workers who move to his county will enjoy relocation allowance, free housing, responsibility allowance and medical insurance for doctors and nurses. Photo/Bob Odalo
What you need to know:
Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua has promised relocation allowance, free housing and medical insurance.
Dr Mutua also proposed to set up a Health Services Committee made up of county officials and health professionals to address outstanding grievances.
Machakos has broken ranks with other counties that have threatened to sack medical workers over the ongoing strike in public hospitals, saying it would instead offer incentives to the workers.
Governor Alfred Mutua said the workers will enjoy relocation allowance, free housing, responsibility allowance and medical insurance for doctors and nurses who take up jobs in Machakos, including expatriates.
“It is our wish that with the above measures, all our health workers will resume duty full time and save the lives of our mothers, children, sisters and fathers,” Dr Mutua said.
Without explaining how the ambitious plan will be financed, Dr Mutua also proposed to set up a Health Services Committee made up of county officials and health professionals to address outstanding grievances.
The committee, which comes close to the Health Service Commission that the medics are agitating for, would set the terms of engagement for medical staff, training, promotions, transfers, and discipline.
Dr Mutua’s statement came just a day after the governor announced a truce with striking health workers, a claim that was denied by trade union leaders.
“I am surprised that Dr Mutua has chosen to play politics with a serious matter like health. These pledges are unrealistic and will not be delivered in the end,” said Kenya National Union of Nurses secretary-general Seth Panyako.
Doctors and nurses downed their tools early this month, protesting the plan by the national government to hand them down to devolved units.
Mr Panyako said health workers were still employed by the Public Service Commission (PSC) even as counties adopted a stick and carrot approach in a bid to end the two-week-old strike.
Kenya Clinical Officers Association (KCOA) officials also asked for a national health policy and laws before the planned devolution.
“It is encouraging to see that some governors such as Dr Mutua are offering attractive packages, but to standardise terms we want the offer to come from a national pool because counties do not have equal economic abilities,” KCOA chairman Wesley Tomno said.
He added that only primary health facilities and those inherited from local authorities should be devolved.
The 47 counties — through the Council of Governors — have ordered workers to take up county positions or miss salaries after a court temporarily stopped the industrial action.
Council of Governors chairman Isaac Rutto has asked health workers who have refused to sign contracts with counties to negotiate their way back to the national government’s payroll.
He said his county, Bomet, was working on modalities to hire more workers to “replace those who have absconded duty” since the strike begun. Uasin Gishu yesterday floated positions for various medical practitioners.
In Wajir, Governor Ahmed Mohamed said the county would construct a training institution and hire qualified health workers.
Dr Mutua said Machakos would equip all hospitals with modern medical facilities, equipment and adequate medicines. The Machakos Level-5 Hospital would be upgraded to provide specialised intensive care, renal analysis and oncology services, he said.
The county would also upgrade health centres into community hospitals offering maternity services and having a mini theatre, laboratories, x-ray rooms and modern in-patient facilities.
Other changes pledged include electronic health record system, emergency response with 70 ambulances operating on a 24-hour basis and exchange programmes with international universities and medical research centres.
